Uconn

Huskies' best shot to end losing streak may be vs. Pitt By Ed Daigneault Republican-American

Pittsburgh quarterback Tino Sunseri throws against the Notre Dame during the second half of an NCAA college football game in South Bend, Ind., Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012. Notre Dame defeated Pittsburgh 29-26 in triple overtime. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

STORRS — For at least one more game, the optimism will remain. It exists without any logical reason beyond the usual and necessary faith athletes carry with them.

The UConn football team has lost four consecutive games. It has not won consecutive games since the 2010 season. It has yet to win a Big East game this year and has lost five straight league encounters.

The Huskies see no reason why they can't win their last three games and make the season matter.

Tonight brings a Rentschler Field visit from Pittsburgh (4-5, 1-3 Big East) for a nationally televised game. Lose tonight and the Huskies (3-6, 0-4) simply play out the string.

The game immediately in front of the Huskies represents the best chance they have of breaking the losing streak. With 11th-ranked Louisville and Cincinnati on the heels of tonight's game, the Huskies have to do something tonight.

Pittsburgh has been the most up-and-down team in Big East, seemingly on the verge of a breakthrough nearly every week only to fall back a step. The Huskies have been stuck in neutral, any step forward being so minute as to be almost impossible to see. Suddenly they are hopeful of making one gigantic step toward the positive.

"We're just trying to get everybody focused," said linebacker Jory Johnson, one of 16 seniors possibly facing the final three games of their careers. "We have a tough road ahead of us. Our backs are really against the wall. We can still fight. We still have talent on this team. We just have to do everything we can to come together for these last three games.

"It's going to be tough, but it's going to take everybody."

The Huskies have been saying all the right things, but they've also admitted that the losing streak, and the inconsistency of the season as a whole, is starting to wear on them. UConn averages 8.25 points per game in the Big East while everybody else but Temple averages more than 20. Temple sits at 19.6.

UConn has the best defense in the Big East and one of the best in the country, ranking ninth in total defense. If the Huskies could only field a mediocre offense, they might be playing for something. Even with the fourth-best passing offense in the league, one that ranks a respectable 58th in the country, the Huskies still sit at No. 110 in total offense.

There are 120 teams in the FBS. The offensive failures of this team have been well documented, remedies proposed and hopes expressed. Until the offense can run the ball and score points, the last three games are likely to be more of the same.

"It's been a combination of a bunch of little things, the details and sometimes not getting the execution that is required," coach Paul Pasqualoni said. "You can't say it is any one particular guy or any one particular position. ... That is a little uncharacteristic of us and uncharacteristic of the University of Connecticut. This has been a team that has done a good job of running the football over the years. We came in last year and I thought we'd be better running the football then we have been this season.

"It has kind of been one thing after the other and we have not been able to get the thing going like we want to. I think the players are working hard at it. Receivers are involved in it, tight ends are involved in it, the backs are involved in it. At the end of the day, it is a little thing here and a little thing there. I personally think you don't let up, you don't get disappointed or discouraged but you keep working hard at it."

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